Goodbye Mew... + Pixiv Art Theft?
Fuck... I feel so horrible right now. I just found out that a girl named Hituji, a Japanese pokemon fan artist, closed her website down. For the record.... she was one of the BEST mew fanartists ever. As silly of a reason to feel horrible.... when I found out, it honestly felt like a piece of me was ripped off and lost forever. Her website had TONS of amazing mew art and comics... and the most horrible part about it is that I never saved it all. I had saved only a small amount of art and figured I would get the rest later, and never did. And now it's too late and all her godly mews are forever gone. I'll never see them again...
I tried really hard to find her email so I could write her and ask if it could be possible for her to maybe... email me a ZIP file of her work, since she had left. Her contact wasn't on her blog, so I could only write her on Pixiv. I can only pray to God that she gets it, agrees to trust me and send me her "leftovers", and can actually READ it (I had given my messege in easy English and used Google to translate it to Japanese, and then did edits back and forth between both languages to make sure the Japanese wasn't messed up completely). So pretty much, all I can do it wait till I hear back, if at all... and pray I'm not fucked. God.... I want her artwork, so bad. I swear I would never claim or use it in any way, like I do with all artists...
And another thing that has me VERY bothered... is Pixiv and English people who are making their way there. More specifically, TONS of people in the pokemon LJ communities that are taking people's art and using it for their icons. I don't know what to think about this, because I'm HIGHLY AGAINST art theft, mainly towards Japanese artists... and yet so many Pixiv art being used for pokemon-themed LJ icons in the communities I am a part of... and these people are GOOD people. They should know all about art theft because I thought they were aware of the issue in the art world, and many members are artists themselves. So if these people are smart and aware of the amazing Pixiv pokemon art... why are they taking the art and do the artists even mind them using for icons in the first place? I always thought highly of the community admin, who lives in Japan herself and is a Pixiv artist as well.... so is this whole thing actually ok? Does everyone have these artists permission to use their art in their icons?? The entire issue is really bothering me, and it honestly makes me very sad deep inside. I love Pixiv, I love the artists there, and I love my LJ communities and the members.
I can't bring myself to ask the community admin, because I have a lot of respect and admiration for her.... and because what if she admitted that the members and herself are doing something wrong but doesn't care? I'm an artist who hates art theft, especially towards people who can't speak English to try to defend themselves in the least... I can't help but feel scared and sad.
I tried really hard to find her email so I could write her and ask if it could be possible for her to maybe... email me a ZIP file of her work, since she had left. Her contact wasn't on her blog, so I could only write her on Pixiv. I can only pray to God that she gets it, agrees to trust me and send me her "leftovers", and can actually READ it (I had given my messege in easy English and used Google to translate it to Japanese, and then did edits back and forth between both languages to make sure the Japanese wasn't messed up completely). So pretty much, all I can do it wait till I hear back, if at all... and pray I'm not fucked. God.... I want her artwork, so bad. I swear I would never claim or use it in any way, like I do with all artists...
And another thing that has me VERY bothered... is Pixiv and English people who are making their way there. More specifically, TONS of people in the pokemon LJ communities that are taking people's art and using it for their icons. I don't know what to think about this, because I'm HIGHLY AGAINST art theft, mainly towards Japanese artists... and yet so many Pixiv art being used for pokemon-themed LJ icons in the communities I am a part of... and these people are GOOD people. They should know all about art theft because I thought they were aware of the issue in the art world, and many members are artists themselves. So if these people are smart and aware of the amazing Pixiv pokemon art... why are they taking the art and do the artists even mind them using for icons in the first place? I always thought highly of the community admin, who lives in Japan herself and is a Pixiv artist as well.... so is this whole thing actually ok? Does everyone have these artists permission to use their art in their icons?? The entire issue is really bothering me, and it honestly makes me very sad deep inside. I love Pixiv, I love the artists there, and I love my LJ communities and the members.
I can't bring myself to ask the community admin, because I have a lot of respect and admiration for her.... and because what if she admitted that the members and herself are doing something wrong but doesn't care? I'm an artist who hates art theft, especially towards people who can't speak English to try to defend themselves in the least... I can't help but feel scared and sad.